The indictment essentially spells out a scheme by the poker companies to set up phony bank accounts to process illegal gambling transactions, either by lying to the banks about the nature of the transactions or by targeting struggling banks who needed the money to stay afloat.

In addition to the criminal charges, the US Attorney filed a civil suit seeking $3 billion in damages. The FBI froze 75 bank accounts and seized five websites.

Three of the 11 named defendants were arrested today. The rest are not currently in the United States.

The bank and wire fraud charges carry a possible sentence of up to 30 years in prison.